The collection

The Treger/Saint Silvestre Collection integrates more than a 1000 works of Art Brut, Singular Art and Contemporary Art. This specific nature turns it unique at the Iberian Peninsula. The Collection is one of the richest private collections in the world and englobes the classic Art Brut authors, such as Adolf Wölfli, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern, Giovanni Battista Podestà and Oskar Voll, as well as more recent discoveries, like Ezekiel Messou, Guo Fengyi, Giovanni Galli, Miroslav Tichý and Eugene Von Bruenchenhein.

Since 2014 the Collection has been open to public at Núcleo de Arte da Oliva in the city of São João da Madeira in Portugal. In 2017 the Collection has received the “Collector” award by APOM – Portuguese Association of Museology.

Giovanni Galli

Italy, 1954

Giovanni Galli was born in Florence, Italy, and worked for a time in his father’s company as a perfume and cosmetics salesman. On his father’s death he found a part-time job in the city council’s finance department, while undergoing treatment for mental health issues. He was committed to a psychiatric institution in 1993 and joined the La Tinaia art workshop the following year, where he concentrated on drawing. Brightly coloured and aesthetically similar to comic strips, his compositions depict nude women surrounded by military and space-travel hardware. He also depicts scenes of sadomasochism, in which women are always portrayed in the dominant role. Closely detailed from all angles, the female figures’ sexual features are the object of special attention. Galli drew using graphite and coloured pencil, as well as sometimes employing collage and tracing.